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Much Ado About Nothing

By William Shakespeare

June 1 1990

directed by Joel G. Fink

After successfully concluding a military campaign, Don Pedro and his men, including Claudio and Benedick, visit Leonato, the Governor of Messina. Upon seeing Leonato's beautiful daughter Hero again, Claudio falls in love with her and seeks her hand in marriage, while Benedick, a self-proclaimed bachelor, matches wits with Leonato's niece, Beatrice, a self proclaimed spinster. Don Pedro's wicked brother Don John, however, is determined to thwart Claudio's happiness. He cooks up a plot to persuade Claudio that Hero is not chaste and he succeeds in convincing both Claudio and Don Pedro that Hero has been unfaithful. Beatrice and Benedick, meanwhile, are the victims of a more comic conspiracy, when they are tricked into confessing their love for one another. The wedding of Claudio and Hero is cruelly interrupted when Claudio accuses Hero of infidelity and swears that he will never marry her. Overwhelmed by false accusations, Hero faints, and in the aftermath, the priest, hoping to uncover the truth, suggests that an announcement be made that Hero is dead. Beatrice, never doubting Hero's virtue, demands that Benedick prove his love by challenging Claudio to a duel to avenge her cousin. In the meantime, however, Don John's scheme is accidentally revealed by the bumbling policemen of the town. Hearing the truth, a remorseful Claudio mourns at Hero's tomb. When Hero is at last revealed alive, the happy ending includes not only her wedding, but also that of Beatrice and Benedick, who finally realize that they are perfectly matched.

Our production will be set in a small town in America in 1898. The war from which the men are returning will, therefore, be the Spanish American War (April-August 1898). This was a booming time for the U.S.: railroads crisscrossed the continent effectively closing off the Great Frontier, while the ambition and avarice of famous "robber barons" such as J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie made America a center of high finance. Thomas Edison was inventing in his laboratory and Mark Twain was at his writing desk. Scott Joplin composed rag-time pieces for piano while John Philip Sousa created his popular marches and John Singer Sargent painted the portraits of fashionable society.

After successfully concluding a military campaign, Don Pedro and his men, including Claudio and Benedick, visit Leonato, the Governor of Messina. Upon seeing Leonato's beautiful daughter Hero again, Claudio falls in love with her and seeks her hand in marriage, while Benedick, a self-proclaimed bachelor, matches wits with Leonato's niece, Beatrice, a self proclaimed spinster. Don Pedro's wicked brother Don John, however, is determined to thwart Claudio's happiness. He cooks up a plot to persuade Claudio that Hero is not chaste and he succeeds in convincing both Claudio and Don Pedro that Hero has been unfaithful. Beatrice and Benedick, meanwhile, are the victims of a more comic conspiracy, when they are tricked into confessing their love for one another. The wedding of Claudio and Hero is cruelly interrupted when Claudio accuses Hero of infidelity and swears that he will never marry her. Overwhelmed by false accusations, Hero faints, and in the aftermath, the priest, hoping to uncover the truth, suggests that an announcement be made that Hero is dead. Beatrice, never doubting Hero's virtue, demands that Benedick prove his love by challenging Claudio to a duel to avenge her cousin. In the meantime, however, Don John's scheme is accidentally revealed by the bumbling policemen of the town. Hearing the truth, a remorseful Claudio mourns at Hero's tomb. When Hero is at last revealed alive, the happy ending includes not only her wedding, but also that of Beatrice and Benedick, who finally realize that they are perfectly matched.